cataract
UK /ˈkætəɹækt/ · US /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms cataracts cataracting cataracted
- noun A (large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff. “The cataracts on the Nile helped to compartment Upper Egypt.”
- noun (by extension) A flood of water; specifically, steep rapids in a river.
- noun (figurative) An overwhelming downpour or rush; a flood. “His cataract of eloquence”
- noun (mechanics, chiefly historical) A type of governor used in single-acting steam engines, where a flow of water through an opening regulates the stroke.
- noun (obsolete, also figurative) Synonym of waterspout (“a whirlwind that forms over water”).
- verb (intransitive) Of a river, etc.: to fall in the form of a waterfall.
- verb (transitive, figurative, rare) To cause (something) to pour or rush like a waterfall.
- noun (obsolete, rare) Synonym of portcullis (“a gate in the form of a grating which is lowered into place at the gateway of a castle, a fort, etc.”); also, a window grating.
- noun (ophthalmology, pathology) A clouding of the lens in the eye leading to a decrease in vision.
- noun (figurative) Something which obscures.
- noun (obsolete, textiles) A tool used for breaking flax; a brake.
- proper noun A suburb of Wollongong in the Wollondilly council area and the Wollongong council area, New South Wales, Australia.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from cataracts (noun (plural only)), from Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either:
* from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρᾰ́σσω (arắssō, “to dash to pieces; to strike”) (further etymology unknown, possibly onomatopoeic) or ῥᾱ́σσω (rhā́ssō, “to dash; to strike”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₂ǵʰ- (“to pound, strike”)); or
* from καταρρηγνύναι (katarrhēgnúnai, “to break down”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
From Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“(medicine) clouding of the lens in the eye”), from Old French cataracte (“clouding of the lens in the eye”), and then either:
* from its etymon Latin cataracta (“portcullis”) (in the sense of something blocking vision as a portcullis blocks a gateway), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “act of rushing down; portcullis”) (see further at etymology 1); or
* from clāthrāta (in fenestra clāthrāta (“window grating”)), an inflected form of clāthrātus (“grated, latticed, clathrate”), from clāthrī (“grate, lattic”) + -ātus (suffix denoting possession of something, forming adjectives from nouns). Clāthrī is derived from Doric Greek κλᾷθρα (klāîthra), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w- (“crook, hook; peg; to close something”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cataract”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details